Cooling device for drinking fountains



Sept. 1 3 1927.

c. w. cAR -rER COOLING DEVICE FOR DRINKING FOUNTAINS Filed March 22. 1926 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 I". \\\"I5//// w A Sept c. w. CARTER v do Lme DE ICE Fog DRINKING FOUNTAINS afch 22. 1926 ,6 Sheets-Sheet 2 6101 612613 J45 Cork] 1? lafiamzya y YZ/QML 1 642 228 Sept. 13,1927. 4 C. W. CARTER i I coomu DEVICE FOR DRINKING FOUNTAINS Filed March 22. 1926 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Sept. 13,1927. 1,642,228

C. W. CARTER COOLING DEVICE FOR DRINKING FOUNTAINS Filed March 22. 1926 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 1,642,228 c. w. CARTER COOLING DEVICE FOR DRINKING FOUNTAINS Sept. 13, 1927.

Filed March 22. 1926 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 may;

13 Sept 1927 c. w. CARTER COOL ING DEVICE FOR DRINKING FOUNTAINS 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed March 22. 1926 fijmzz Clarence J7. (a 1 Patented Sept. 13, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

eLARnNcE w. CARTER, or MINNEAIOLIS, MINNESOTA, Assrsmoa r0 caarna mAr- HEW MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF' MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, A CORPORA- rrro v or m uunso'm.

COOLING DEVICE FOR DRINKING EOUNT AINS.

' Applicaticm filed March 22, 1926. Serial No. 96,370.

1 539,867, of date June 2,1995. My invention, in common with that of said Ridler patent, utilizes the cold waste water from the fountain as an important feature of the water-cooling means, but itinvlolves other and highly important features whereby the cooling action, not only in connection with the use of the cold waste water, but in the manner of using the refrigerating medium, is rendered more eflicient and the waste of cooling energy is reduced to substantially nil.

As a salient teature of the present invention, I employ as a container for the ice or other primary refrigerating element and for the refrigerating medium such as ice water,

a liquidcontaining vessel, which, because of.

its form, is herein designated broadly as an inverted siphon. This inverted siphon may take various forms, but many advantages are derived by concentrically arranging the vertical legs or portions thereof so that the outer or discharge leg will surround the inner or sttpply'leg, .or vice versa. When this inverted siphon is incorporated in a drinking water supply system including drinking fountains,

include any form of water-discharge .device), the cold waste water from the fountain is directed into the inner 'or supply leg of said inverted siphon and the ice .or refrigerating means will be placed in .or connected to the said inner leg. In the preferred arrangement the drinking water supply pipe is led in, first through the outer or discharge leg of the inverted siphon and from thence is carried up through the inner or supply leg thereof, and is then connected to the nozzle of the drinking 'fountain. This arrangement has highly important advantages that result in the extremely high coolingefiiciency referred to where and which will hereinafter 1 v eenaidered and explained n follows r (the term drinkingfountain being used in a liberal sense to connection with, a description of the device as illustratedin the drawings. 2

Referring to the drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views, 1

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the improved device with the cover thereof removed; Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2-72 of Fig. 1, some parts being shown n u l; 1 i

Fig. ,3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; i

Fig. 4: is a fragmentary horizontal section on the line if/l of Fig. 2; y

F ig. 5 is a 'verticalsection on the line 55 ting-4;; r

-Fig. 6 is a fragmentary viewshowing parts found in' the 'yicinity of the line marked on 2,'some partsbeing sectioned on said line i Fig. 7 is a view corresponding to Fig. 2, but illustrating amodified structure 7 Fig. 8 is another view corresponding to Fig. 2, but illustrating a still further modifled construction; and v V Fig. 9, is another view corresponding .to Fig. 2 but illustrating .a still further modifled form of the cooler.

The structure shown in Figs. 1 to-6, in elusive, will first be described and is as The cake of ice 1 is, ,as shown, supported on a rack 10 that is located within and. rests :upon the bottom of an insulated ice box 11 shown as provided with a removable cover 12. The ice box 11 is supported on a pedestal 13 that is formed with arentral chamber 14 with a. surrounding annular chamber 15,- the said chambers being incommunicationat their lower ends. These two chambers '14: and 15 constitute the inverted siphon referred .to above and in which the inner or receiving leg is afiorded by the chamber 14 and ,the .outer or discharge leg by .the chamber 15. The inner leg ll, at its pp end, leads dow wa d f t i he .or compartment 11. The pedestal 13 in the structure just described is formed with .concentric insulated walls 13 and 13 that are spaced .to form the annular chamber or outer leg ls I Y The drinking vtou tain here illustrated is uprated directly in sac cf the ill upper portion of the ice box 11 and comprises a bracket 16 having a bowl 17 formed with a water-delivery nozzle 18 and a drain depression 19. The drain depression 19 is connected by a drain pipe 20 to the'interior of the upper portion of the ice compartment. The drain pipe 20 is preferably bent so that it forms a water trap, as best shown in Fig. 5, and, hence, prevents the entrance of the outside warm air into the ice compartment. At its discharge end, the pipe 20 is shown as provided wit-h a flanged discharge thimble 20 As shown, a baffle plate 21 is placed on one side of the interior of the ice compartment 11 and directs the waste water from the waste water drain pipe 20 toward the bottom of said compartment.

From one side of the upper portion of the outer siphon leg 15, a waste Water discharge pipe 22 is extended outward through the outer wall 13 and the outer end of this pipe is connected by a swivel 23 to a goose neck water trap 24 that is mounted for pivotal adjustments in a vertical plane, so as to raise and lower its crown and the swinging portion of the partition 24 that separates the two legs of said trap. The discharge leg of this trap is terminated close to the swivel 22 and, as shown, is connected to a flexible hose 25 which will conduct the waste water to any suitable point of discharge. The trap 24, at its swinging end, is shown as provided with an operating handle 26 and with a segmental flange 27, which latter is guided and frictionally held by a clip 28 applied on the adjacent side of the ice box 11. This trap affords a vertically adjustable discharge device for varying the level of the ice water contained in the ice compartment and in the legs of the inverted siphon, all as will hereinafter more fully appear.

The drinking water supply may be from any suitable source, but will be assumed to be from a city water supply system, and it includes a water supply pipe 29 that is brought into the upper portion of the outer leg 15 of the inverted siphon and is passed downward therethrough and thence upward through the inner leg 14, through the ice compartment and from thence is passed outward and connected to the drinking water nozzle 18. For high cooling efficiency, the water supply pipe 29 is formed with an inner coil 29 and. an outer coil 29". Said coils 29 and 29 are located, respectively, in the inner siphon leg 14 and in the outer siphon leg 15, and they are connected through the passage joining the said two legs. The outer coil 29 causes the incoming water to take a spiral downward course in the outer leg 15, while the inner coil 29 causes the drinking water to take a spiral upward course through the inner siphon leg 14. Both legs of the siphon will, of course, be

' kept filled with cold water. Obviously, the

two coils afford a large amount of heatradiating surface for conducting the heat from the relatively warm drinking water to the relatively cold refrigerating water or medium.

At a suitable point near the drinking fountain, a controlling valve is interposed in the drinking water supply pipe 29 and such a valve structure is shown in detail in Fig. 4. As shown, said valve mechanism comprises a valve casing 30 directly interposed in said pipe 29 and having a port 31 normally closed by a valve 32 on the inner end of a plunger 33. The valve 32 will be normally held closed by the pressure of the incoming water from the pipe 29 and by a spring 33 and is adapted to be opened by the manipulation of a hand piece 34 provided at its inner end with an arm 35 that engages the extended end of the valve stem 33. The hand piece 34 is connected to the arm 35 by a shaft 36 extended through the adjacent wall of the ice box 11. By manipulation of the hand piece 34 or any other suitable substitute device, the water can be turned onto the drinking nozzle 18, at will, and the valve 32 will be automatically closed when the hand piece 34 is released. However, the valve mechanism described performs no particular feature of the present invention.

The numeral 37 indicates a spiral baffle plate interposed between certain of the upper convolutions of the outer coil 29, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

Operation.

As already indicated, the legs 14 and 15 of the siphon will be kept filled with the cold waste water or fluid refrigerating medium and the level thereof within the ice compartment may be varied by vertical pivotal adjustments of the discharge trap 24. It is evident that the level of the water in the ice compartment will be the same as that in the crown of said trap, or, in other words, will be determined by the elevation of the upper extremity of the partition 24 The action that takes place in the transfer of heat from the drinking water to the relatively cold waste water will be better understood I by first starting with the substantially correct assumption that the drinking water will come into the cooling device at a temperature, say, of seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit and will be first subjected to the cooling water at the point where it is about ready to leave the outer siphon leg 15 and at which point the waste cooling water is at its highlit) est temperature. reached with the cooling apparatus. Melted ice water, in the vicinity of the bottom of the ice compartment 11, will be at approximately thirty-three degrees or just a little above the melting point.

Under static conditions and by the action of convection, the water in the inner leg .14,

as it rises from approximately 33 to 39, will drop to the bottom of said leg 15, for, as is well known, water has its greatest specific gravity at approximately 39 Fahrenheit and gets lighter and lighter as it gets either warmer or colder. Hence, it is approximately correct to state that the waste water in the inner leg i l at the upper pore .tion thereof will be approximately 33 and will, under the action of convection, arrange itself so that the temperatures will be gradually higher and higher toward the bottom of said leg i l and that approximately a tem perature of 39 Fahrenheit will prevail at the lower portion of said inner leg. In the outer leg, however, a reverse action will take place, for, as the waste water reaches a temperature higher than 39, it will, under the action of convection, arrange itself so that its temperatures will be higher and higher at increasing elevations and so that, at the point of discharge through the pipe 22, a temperature of, say, approximately 70 Fahrenheit willbe reached.

It is new highly important to remember that the outer drinking water supply coil 29 has a spiral downward trend, while the inner wall 29 has a spiral upward trend.

This is exactly what is desired "for the best degrees colder, but that, as it is carried through the two coils 29 and '29, it is :all

.the time subjected to the action of the coolin-g water at a somewhat lower temperature. For instance, when the drinking water reaches the bottom of the outer coil 29 1, it will be then subject to waste water at a temperature of approximately 39 and will itself have been lowered to a temperature of approximately fifty-five degrees; and then,

as the drinking water passes upward through the inner wall 29 itwill be further reduced in temperature by relatively cold waste water, so that when it reaches the upper portion of said coil 29. and is then subject to cooling water at the temperature of approximately 33, it will itself have been reduced to a temperature of approximately 425. Thus, the drinking water will be delivered to the drinking fountain at a temperatiu e of not far from and the waste water will be delivered back into the ice compartment at a temperature of not far from 46 or 47. This waste water, at the low temperature oi. 46 01' 47, will be commingled with the ice water and utilized as an important part of the cooling medium. Thus, by utilizing this cold waste water and by the arrangement described, whereby the relative temperatures of the cooling water and drinking water are associated or presented in reverse order of progression, substantially all waste is eliminated and very great economy in the use of the cooling medium is accomplished.

The above action has under the melting ice as well as when the waste water from the fountain is delivered into the ice compartment a forced circulation and discharge of the waste water is produced; that is, there will, under the action of gravity, be a forced circulation of the Waste water downward through the inner siphon leg 14 and thence upward through the outer siphon leg 15 and out through the taking :a short cut to discharge through one side ot-the annular siphon leg 15. Even if this baffle 37 should not be a complete spiral, if placed at the proper side, would prevent direct upward flow at one side of the leg.

From what has been said it evident that the important actions result from the vertical arrangement of the legs of the inverted siphon. Moreover, in this arrangement local circulation at dillerent points will not be set up but a constant progressive circulation in the generalmlirection above described will be insured. The temperature to which the drinking water will be reduced in passing through the cooler may be varied considerably by vertical. adjustments of the discharge trap 2e for it is evident that the higher the altitude of the water on the ice the greater the cooling effect thereof and the lower the altitude of the water on the ice the less will be the'cool-ing effect thereof. If the discharge trap 24 be turned to its lowest position the water in the legs 14 and 15, will be dropped down to the level of the pipe 22 and of course then the temperature to which the drinking water will be reduced will be less than when the altitude of the water is Y regulated to the higher points shown in Fig. 2. In practice, it has been found that about 45 is the mostdesirable temperature for drinking water under mostconditions; but to maintain such temperature of the drinking water in the summer time will require a much higher altitude of the drinking water than in the winter time for the reason that city water, which'is the ordinary sup ply, will be delivered to the cooling device at a considerably higher temperature in the summer time than in the winter time. In the illustrative action above given it was assumed that the water was delivered to the but it will be understood that in the summer been considered as a hydrostatic action, but as a matter of fact time the temperature will be higher and in the winter time lower.

The vertically adjustable discharge device is preferably in the form of a trap as above described but it may take various dilferent forms. Some means for vertically adjusting the same to vary the altitude of the water is very desirable for the reasons in dicated but so far as the broad idea of the invention is concerned would not necessarily need to be adjustable.

In the modified form of the cooler shown in Fig. 7 those parts that closely correspond to like parts illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive. are indicated by the same characters. In this arrangement the pedestal 13 is formed with the inverted siphon made up of a receiving leg let and a discharge leg 15 not in concentric arrangement but laid side by side and separated by an insulated partition 13. Within the discharge leg 15 are horizontally projecting alternated overlapping batlles 37 that cause the water on its upward travel to the discharge pipe 22 to take a zig-zag course. In this arrangement the drinking water supply pipe 29 within the siphon leg 15 is formed with horizotally disposed coils 29 that are separated by the bailies 37 so that the incoming drinking water and the outflowing waste water are caused to follow the same general line of travel but to flow in reverse directions for reasons fully discussed in the description of the operation of the cooler illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive. The siphon leg 14.- leads downward from the bottom of the ice box or compartment 11 and the pipe 29 extends upward therethrough, as shown on straight line, but this portion of the pipe might, of course. be a coil or of form other than straight. In this arrangement illustrated in Fig. 7, far the greater part of the cooling action is produced in the relatively large discharge siphon leg 15.

In the modified form of cooler shown in Fig. 8 the inner and outer legs 14! and 15 are formed directly in the pedestal or insulated structure 11*; the inner leg 14: is made large enough to serve as an ice compartment to contain a large cake of ice b and the open top of the surrounding outer leg 15 is provided with a removable cover 12; in this arrangement the fountain bracket 16 is directly secured to the upper portion of one side of the outer wall of the pedestal 11 and the delivery end. of the cold water supply pipe 29 is connected to the nozzle 18 as described in the first instance; and the above described arrangement for the discharge of waste water from the fountain will be provided except that here it will be delivered directly into the inner leg lt by a pipe, not shown, but very similar to the described pipe 20. The drinking water supply pipe is brought directly into the outer 15* and therein is provided with a coil 29. From coil 29 pipe 29 extends upward through the leg 143 to an interposed valve mechanism such as that described in connection with Figs. 1. to 6, inclusive. From the outer leg 14 waste water is discharged through a pipe 22 that is connected to the verticallly adjustable trap 24. As here shown, the cake of ice 6 is placed on a rack l0 located at the bottom of the leg 14".

The construction illustrated in Fig. 9 is much like that illustrated in Fig. 8 but here, instead of using a cake of ice as the source of cooling medium, a refrigerating coil 3 is placed within the inner siphon leg 14*. The drinking water supply pipe 29 in this arrangement is brought into the outer leg 15" and therein forms a coil 29 From the coil 29 the pipe 29 is shown as extended upward through the refrigerating coil 3 and from thence is extended to the nozzle 18 of the drinking fountain.

In the several modifications here illustrated. the vertical or upright legs of the waste water chamber, herein designated as constituting an inverted siphon, are in concentric arrangement and the discharge leg is of annular form and surrounds the receiving leg. This is the advisable and most practical form, but the structure is capable of much modification and, hence, the statement herein made in certain of the claims that the said legs are in concentric arrangen'ient is used ina broad and liberal sense to mean that the one is placed within the other and surrounded and embraced by the latter. The refrigerating chamber, in most instances, will be an ice box or ice-contain ing chamber, but in certain forms where ice is not used. a refrigerating coil may be used in lieu of the ice.

l/Vhat I claim is:

1. A refrigerator haying a waste water chamber formed with a downwardly extended receiving leg and an upwardly extended discharge leg, said legs being connected at their lower portions, a drinking fountain arranged for the discharge of the waste water therefrom into said receiving leg, said discharge leg having an overflow passage at its upper portion, and a drinking water supply conduit extended downward through said discharge leg, thence upward, and connected to said drinking fountain.

2. A refrigerator having a waste water chamber formed with a downwardly extended receiving leg and an upwardly extended discharge leg, said legs being connected at their lower portions, a drinking fountain arranged for the discharge of the waste water therefrom into said receiving leg, said discharge leg having an overflow passage at its upper portion. and a drinking water supply clonduit extended downward through charge leg, thence upward 5... v.tg'li.

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said receiving leg and from thence extended and connected to said drinking fountain.

3. The structure defined in claim 1 in which said drinking water supply pipe is coiled within the discharge leg of the waste water chamber.

4. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the receiving and discharge legs of said waste water chamber are in concentric arrangement.

5. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the discharge leg of said waste water chamber is provided at its upper portion with an overflow passage provided with a Vertically adjustable discharge section whereby the altitude of the water in the refrigerator may be varied.

6. A refrigerator having a refrigerating compartment and a waste water chamber formed with a receiving leg extended downwardly from said refrigerating compartment and a discharge leg extended upwardly and having an overflow passage at its upper portion, said legs being connected at their lower portions, a drinking fountain having a waste water discharge conduit arranged for delivery of the waste water to said receiving leg, and a drinking water supply pipe extended downwardly through said discharge leg, thence upwardly, and connected to said drinking fountain.

7. A refrigerator having a refrigerating compartment and a waste water chamber formed with a receiving leg extended down" wardly from said refrigerating compartment and a discharge leg extended upwardly and having an overflow passage at its upper portion, said legs being connected at their lower portions, a drinking fountain having a waste water discharge conduit arranged for delivery of the waste water to said receiving leg, and'a drinking water supply pipe extended downwardly through said discharge leg thence upwardly through said receiving leg, and from thence extended and connected to said drinking fountain.

8. The structure defined in claim 6 in which said drinking water supply pipe within the discharge leg of said waste water chamber is in the form of a coil having a downward trend;

9. The structure defined in claim 6 in which the legs of said waste water chamber are in concentric arrangement.

10. The structure defined in claim 6 in which the legs of said waste water chamber are in concentric arrangement, and in which said drinking water supply pipe within the discharge leg of said waste water chamber is provided with a coil having a downward trend and within the receiving leg is provided with a coil having an upward trend.

11. The structure defined in claim 6 in which the overflow passage from the discharge of said waste water chamber is provided with a vertically adjustable discharge section whereby the altitude of the water within the refrigerator may be varied.

12. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the discharge leg of said waste water chamber at its upper portion is provided with an overflow conduit terminating in a trap at its outer portion.

13. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the discharge leg of. said waste water chamber at its upper portion is provided with an overflow conduit equipped with a water trap pivotally movable in avertical plane.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CLARENCE w. CARTER. 

